[1] This painting shows the influence of German Renaissance masters such as Lucas Cranach the Elder and Hans Baldung Grien, as Dix had adopted the painstaking technique of tempera and oil on panel, rather than on canvas.
The current portrait was made after Dix's return from Berlin to Dresden, where he was nominated teacher at the Staatliche Akademie der Bildenden Künste, in 1926.
This time Dix chose to present his friend in a depiction heavily influenced by the German tradition, but still with a very contemporary touch.
Erfurth is presented at half length, dressed in the fashionable clothing he preferred, seen in profile, looking to his left, and with his large German Shepherd dog, Ajax, in front of him.
The dog appears also in profile, looking to his front, with pointed ears, and his mouth open with a large protruding tongue.